A free bird again

It’s always wonderful to see a happy ending to a story, especially when you get to be there for both the beginning and the end! Working as a phone counselor, admissions receptionist and visitor greeter, as well as development and marketing coordinator for the Wildlife In Need Center, I don’t often get to make a connection with any one patient that comes through our doors. Well, I did try to raise those orphaned white-footed mice, but we’ll save that story for another time.

I received a call early on a Thursday morning near the end of August from a business owner. He had rescued a Great Horned owl found with its leg caught on a piece of equipment. Upon arrival it seemed like the bird was in terrible shape, but a thorough examination revealed that, although dehydrated from the struggle, his injuries appeared to be primarily external.

We kept him calm for several days, treating the wounds and consulting with our volunteer veterinarians. It was confirmed that he had no fracture so it would just be a matter of time before he was healed and ready to go back home!

After 2 weeks of therapy and treatment his leg was looking much better and he was prepared to return home. The area where he had been found was a short way south of where I live so I was asked if I’d be willing to assist. So, after shutting down the office for the evening I watched as he was packed into a kennel cab for the ride. I drove home quietly and when I got there left him to rest quietly in the garage while we waited for the sun to go down.

After dinner my husband and I got in the car and headed out. We found the location easily and, since it was beginning to get dark, we pulled in with our headlights shining on the area we wanted to release him. Once we were set up I stood behind the kennel and opened the door. He hesitated for a moment as Andy was set-up to photograph the event and he could see him out of the corner of the doorway. Once he inched back a couple of inches however, the owl regained his bravery and came storming out!

The one shot of the event that turned out was this moment; the rest of his adventure was a graceful arch up and out, heading to the west and into a thicket of trees. One aspect of assisting on releases is that you get to talk to people. I talk to a lot of people during the day with questions regarding their wild neighbors and the center, but when you speak to someone during a special event like this it’s different. Before we could hop back in our cars to bid our owl friend a final adieu a vehicle stopped to find out if we needed any help. Once we explained what we were doing the passerby gladly took some information about the Center and said she was definitely going to contact us about volunteering. IF she joins us, hopefully we’ll be able to have even more happy endings.

A Special “Independence Day” Update

Lonesome Louise is lonesome no more!

I don’t know what a southern squirrel will think of northern winters, but Louise certainly has a beautiful place to live. On Thursday, June 24, she and her two buddies were released at a gorgeous several hundred acre farm near Dousman. The owners have multiple bird and squirrel feeders as well as nest boxes and huge oak trees all around their house. When we opened the door of Louise’s nestbox, she was the first to come bounding out, bouncing in huge leaps across the yard. It was probably the first time she ever had grass beneath her feet. She ran across the yard – there was no cage wall to stop her anymore. Then she dashed into the open door of a small shed. “Oh, that’s where we store the corn and sunflower seed. She knows where to go!” Liane laughed. Louise’s two buddies were a little shyer and we had to remove the roof of the box to get them out. By that time Louise had ventured out of the building and was discovering that the trees had no roof; imagine that!

Thanks to all of our generous home and property owners we can give our orphaned patients a good start to life by releasing them in areas where they will be able to find the resources they need to live long, happy lives. To find out more about becoming a release site, visit our website at: http://www.helpingwildlife.org/getinvolved/volunteer.htm#release

A Happy Ending

The evening of Tues, March 10th I received a phone call at home from Department of Natural Resources Game Warden Dave Walz. I live in Jefferson County and have often met Dave to pick up injured animals to bring to the Center. Dave had rescued an owl that had been tangled in netting at a game bird farm near Ashippun.

He had cut the owl free but didn’t know how long it had been struggling or how severely it was injured. Since it was late, we made arrangements for him to let the owl rest overnight with him and then he dropped it by my house early the next morning for me to bring to the Center. The next morning I discovered it was a small male Great Horned Owl and that he was pretty grouchy about being in captivity.

Upon examination, Animal Care staff discovered minor abrasions and a sprained leg and wing from struggling while tangled in the netting. We wanted to give him a couple days to recover, but we were also concerned to get him released to origin as soon as possible.

Why would we send him back to the area where his injuries had occurred? First of all, raptors are territorial and that was his territory. Also, if he had a mate, she would be sitting on their babies to keep them warm. As the male in the family, he would be expected to do most of the hunting for her and the babies in addition to himself. While he was here we had several warm nights so hopefully mom could safely leave the babies for a short while to hunt.

On Sunday, March 14th after work, I drove Mr. Great Horned (as we lovingly referred to this stout little guy during his stay) back home. There was a long gravel driveway to a ridge that dropped away towards the property where I parked my vehicle. He was footing (grabbing with his talons) the door in his excitement by this time. I opened the door, he took one hop onto the road, then threw out his wings and flung himself into the air.

He soared off the ridge, down over the valley, past a pond and landed in a tree to get his bearings. It was so beautiful to see him fly off into the sunset. I hope he got back to his mate in time to help care for his young - Although I do wonder just how he will explain his absence of several nights to his mate. “Really, honey, I was hunting for mice and this stuff grabbed me. And then these aliens abducted me and took me somewhere and performed medical procedures on me…”

Guest Blogger LR

Here's a sneak peak at someone you'll be hearing about in the next couple of weeks... stay tuned

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

And so it was sweet sorrow for the staff and volunteers of the Wildlife in Need Center, as Romeo and Juliet, the Barred Owls were released on Sunday, March 14th, after twenty-nine days of hydration, weight gain and flight therapy. A small crowd gathered in Menomonee Falls, as staff, volunteers, neighbors and the homeowners witnessed the owl’s flight to freedom. The release was set for 6:00 p.m., a time when the impending dusk would allow for better camouflaging should there be any potential predators. As the star crossed lovers were released, Romeo flew onto a nearby tree branch, checked his bearings a glided silently out of sight. Juliet though, much to everyone’s surprise, landed on a nearby chimney similar to the one from which she’d been rescued. Juliet’s stay was thankfully brief, when with a great beat of her wings she was off and flying through the densely wooded lot. I quickly scanned the trees, locating her perched in a distant tree. Through my camera lens I could still see her dark haunting eyes. She stopped in the tree only long enough to take one last look at her captors, as if to say in her silent stare, “Thank you”, then she was gone.

Good-night, good-night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good-night till it be morrow.
-Juliet, Act II, scene ii

Guest Blogger -KF

Hooos Out There!

In 2009, the Wildlife in Need Center was involved in eleven rescues of baby Great Horned owls, or owlets as they are called. Owlets often have to be rescued when the strong winds of late March and early April blow. Great Horned owls do not build their own nests, but take over old crow and squirrel nests and if those nests are in disrepair, it is very easy for an owlet to tumble out, especially when it is windy. An owlet on the ground is especially vulnerable to predators as they are unable to fly. Crows can often be heard “cawing” when there is an owl in the neighborhood. There is nothing they would like better than to pick on an unsuspecting grounded owlet. Usually if someone from the public is aware of owls in their yard and if a tragedy like this would occur, they will call and notify the Center.

To satisfy my curiosity about owl activity in the area this year, I called many of the rescue locations from the previous year. I’m happy to report, that over half of the contacts to date are reporting a lot of hooting. Several individuals have seen adult owls in trees in their yards. Great Horned owlets have even hatched at some locations. Follow this link to the WE-Energies website http://www.we-energies.com/environmental/protect_wildlife.htm. There you can see two owlets snuggling under the feathers of its mother at 3PM today. At the Center last year, we rescued owlets from late March to late April. In my next blog, I’ll write more about the renesting process. I’ll leave you with this picture, courtesy of a homeowner from one of last year’s re-nesting sites. These two owls are nest mates shown shortly after they fledged last year.

-KF (aka CBL)

The Only Chimney Swift Spending the Winter in Wisconsin

As many of you know, we are over-wintering a Chimney Swift this year at WINC. He (or she, there’s no real way to tell) came in as an orphan on August 20th. This is considered very late in the season for Chimney Swifts. But just like other baby birds, we fed our little Chimney Swift every 30 minutes for the first couple months to keep him going.

Eventually, as his weight reached a plateau at a healthy 20 grams, we put him on hourly feedings. Typically, as birds grow older they begin to self-feed and you can feed them less and less frequently until they no longer need any hand-feeding. However, Chimney Swifts are different. In the wild, they catch insects in the air as they fly which is very difficult to replicate in captivity. Because they will not self-feed in captivity, we knew we would have to feed him. He was the first patient we cared for in the morning and the last one at night.

Once he developed sufficient flying skills, we decided it was time to start looking for flocks of other Chimney Swifts to release him into. We had heard of flock sightings in Madison so a staff member took him there in hopes that she would find the flock. Unfortunately, it was a cold day so the flock was nowhere to be found. After a few more weeks with no signs of the flock, we had to face the facts: the Chimney Swifts had already migrated to the only place they go in the winter months, Peru! So we knew our 70 degree indoor aviary and hourly hand- feedings were his only hope for survival. Of course we were willing to do whatever we needed to do for him to someday be released.

It’s now the end of January and we’re still feeding our Chimney Swift whenever he desires which is back to almost every half-hour, time permitting. Having to keep any animal over the entire winter is not ideal for us or for them, but one you have to care for so many times a day can start to drive a rehabber a little crazy. It got me thinking about how much of our time this little guy demands. We’ve fed him approximately 15 times per day for the last three months and an average of 25 times per day for the two months prior to that. After a little math, I came up with an approximation of roughly 2,850 feedings since August 20th! So that’s where all of our mealworms are going!

As the days slowly grow longer, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Chimney Swift and hopefully he will be released into a flock once the summer months return. Until then, he has a safe and warm place to live where he will never have to worry about going hungry.

Guest Blogger, C.M.

The Turkey's were released

“The turkey’s that were released last week are still in the area. They come each morning closer to the house as we put water and a little food out for them. They come back again in the afternoon to check and see what’s left, but they spend the rest of their time scouring our land for bugs and seeds. It has taken them the whole week to gain the confidence to reach the outer edges of the property, but they seem to be getting braver each day and they are fitting into the landscape quite nicely.”

M. D. -WINC Member and release site registrant.

We do our best to keep as many young animals with their families each year as possible, but inevitably, summer is our busiest time of year as we raise hundreds of ducks, raccoons, squirrels, birds, cottontails and even some turkeys. Because these animals are being given a second chance at life at the Wildlife In Need Center and often a new family as well, they don’t have a territory to return to like our adult patients do. These animals rely on the goodness of the people in our release site program. Individuals who have property they either own or manage can fill out a form from our office or our website in which they detail the natural aspects of their property. Release sites need not be huge or even strictly rural, but urban lots and small suburban yards won’t do. All release sites are checked out by a staff member to verify that it is good habitat for the desired species. Releasing an animal on an ideal release site can be as important to its survival as the care it receives in our rehabilitation hospital. If you are interested in becoming a release site for the Wildlife In Need Center please visit our website or call us for more information.

And on the topic of releases: We were recently forwarded this wonderful story about a fellow rehabilitator and a succesful release of 4 sandhill cranes. The great thing is that two of these individuals came from the Wildlife In Need Center! Transferring patients between centers gives each animal a better chance to access the things that they need, whether it is a larger flight aviary, surgical care or a foster parent. You can find out more in future posts, by checking our website, or by giving us a call.

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http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20091107/APC0204/911070569/1014/David-Ho